``The government will soon come out with a fee structure for new schools, which will be on a no-grant basis. As far as existing schools are concerned, no fee hikes will be allowed for the time being,'' the Minister told Express Newsline.

More's assertion comes in the wake of a plea for fee hike recently made by the MahaMumbai Shikshan Sanstha Sanghatana, a conglomerate of private school management bodies. Avinash R Tambe, secretary of the Sanghatana had said that if the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations were to be made applicable to employees of unaided educational institutes, the school managements would have to either increase the fees by nearly 250 per cent or shut shop. The government had not given any guidelines on the fee structure vis-a-vis the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations and had also disregarded the rise in salaries andnon-salary expenses of schools, he had stressed. The vice-president of the Unaided School Forum, B P Sheth, had also expressed his concern over the fee issue.

The Congress Minister also sounded less enthusiastic than Minister of State for Education Anil Deshmukh about the implementation of the controversial Pre-School Regulation of Admission Act. While Deshmukh had recently said implementation of the Act was his top priority, More only pointed out that ``right now, the Act remains suspended. A Cabinet decision is awaited on it.''

More, who has also been president of the Pune Zilla Shikshan Mandal since 1983, was, however, supportive of the reform measures initiated by the Shiv Sena-BJP government. The teachers training programme called SMART-PT (statewide massive rigorous training for primary teachers) would continue, More said, adding that he was all for strong Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) in schools.

He also expressed satisfaction over the Central government-sponsored midday meal scheme that hasbeen implemented for the last four years. Asked to comment on the reported remarks of Minister for Civil Supplies Datta Meghe that the government had uncovered irregularities to the tune of crores of rupees in the nutritious food scheme in the state, More maintained there might be some irregularities in certain pockets, but the overall benefits of the scheme had percolated down to the schools. ``In fact, I am trying to see how the surplus litres of milk that are destroyed every day can instead be channelised to primary school students. I will have a dialogue with the department of animal husbandry to see how this can be done,'' he said.

The midday meal scheme is aimed at improving the enrolment, attendance and retention of students in primary classes while simultaneously impacting on their nutrition status. Children studying in class I-V in all government, local and government-aided primary schools can benefit from this scheme. Under the scheme, three kilos of rice is given every month to every student withan eighty per cent classroom attendance.